


Dragonology 101

by nirejseki



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Gen, I Don't Even Know, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 06:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6693583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/pseuds/nirejseki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which almost everyone is a dragon and also everyone likes to hang out and do science.  And on Cisco's birthday, he has only one wish.</p>
<p>(not a particularly serious fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dragonology 101

**Author's Note:**

> Normally after an episode of Legends I write something about the episode. This time I wrote this instead. I'm oddly fond of it; if anyone else (who actually knows something about biology or just wants to go world-building) would like to continue it, please do.
> 
> Also, apologies, I haven't taken bio since high school, so this is about 90% BS. 
> 
> Almost certainly partially inspired in part by joker-quinn's smol Barry verse, because it is awesome.

Those on the team which were half-dragon – capable of shifting into their draconic form at will – tended to use their free days to go wild and frolic. The STAR training fields were vast and pleasant for dragons, particularly since Cisco had made a full-throated push to get various sections turned into specific “habitats”. 

The first one he had set up was the Thundercloud, where Barry liked to nap in his drakkon form; the electricity running through the walls made the walls feel alive, like it did right before a storm or when he was running. It was surprisingly popular amongst non-speedsters, too – Sara, their beautiful slick and poisonous lindworm, said that it felt like a spa treatment. Lisa, for all that she was human, concurred, and the two of them often lounged around in there together, gossiping and hissing at any boy that dared intrude on their space. It made Barry pout. Cisco couldn’t blame them, though, he kinda liked sitting there himself, spacing out on the weird vibrations. 

Cisco liked to think he was secretly some sort of vibration-based dragon, but he’d been assured that that sort of thing didn’t exist. Oh, well, he'd have to settle for being one of the _most pre-eminent dragon biologists in the world_ , so there. He was focused right now on documenting his extraordinarily diverse group of dragons for the benefit of the scientific community at large. If his reports about how Sara liked to preen her poison sacs got them tons of grants from the scientific community, enabling them to do as they liked with the STAR training fields, well, look at that, lucky them. 

Caitlin, being imoogi, preferred the cool, shaded waters of the Pool to lounge in; she’d only half-manifested, capable of turning into her hornless serpent form, but it’d be a good few years before she figured out if she was going to be a creature of the warm shallows or the deep cold depths. Having met her alternate universe version, Cisco had long, _long_ speeches about why the shallow water was _great_. No Killer Frost here if he can help it! She did like the waterfall he built her, though, so with any luck his sea-serpent soul sister would go towards the path of light and warmth and more moderate size, less giant squid. 

Cisco hadn’t really wanted to build the zomoks a territory at all – goddamn storm dragons, no one liked the Mardon brothers – but everyone had pointed out that fair was fair. He’d put them as high up as they could, generated electricity and mimicked the sound of thunder, even threw in some rain generators, but noooo, they still weren’t happy. They were only satisfied when Hartley crawled up there in his tiny wyvern form and played them music. Kendra, their only feathered dragon, nested up in the mountains as well. 

The fire-drakes – Mick, Jax, Stein – all preferred the area which he’d tried to call “the Volcano” but which the fire-drakes universally referred to as “the Hot Place”. Cisco was pretty proud of that one; he’d heated up the rocks and build a super-durable riverbed through which he pumped a stream of molten metal. The rocks were adjustable, so they could go up to superhot when the drakes were napping in their natural forms or go down to something more reasonable if they wanted to be there in their human guises. Obviously other dragons weren’t as fond of that place.

Everyone loved their habitats, but most of the them they all settled in their original space in the wide circle in the center of the STAR training grounds, and even the three humans among them liked to hang out there. They’d worked out a decent job allocation for the humans: Cisco ran the human side of the science studies (Caitlin, Stein, Jax and Barry all helped, of course, but as subjects of study their work was by necessity listed as contribution rather than authors, which Cisco thought was total crap) while Ray funded the place from his original technology business and sometimes helped out with wacky inventions (though he was currently on his honeymoon with Kendra). And Lisa…well, Lisa had wandered in a few weeks after Len and Mick had first joined up and she’d never left. Cisco wasn’t sure how she’d managed to get on the payroll or what exactly her job title was, but the dragons loved her, so whatever. 

There was a reason STAR was still renowned even after the disaster involving Harrison Wells (actually a half-dragon himself and manipulating their scientific results): they had the largest variety of dragons in the world: dragons large and small, winged beasts or flightless serpent. Cisco personally thought Barry was just the right size – body the size of a pick-up truck, although longer. He had a hell of a wingspan, even though you couldn’t see it when he folded his wings back for more aerodynamic running or diving. The zomoks were the size of a small house, and the drakes were larger still, with bodies growing as large as whales. Sara, being a lindworm, was a little smaller than the zomoks, more school bus than house, but had repeatedly proven herself to be infinitely more scary. Caitlin was a sleek sea serpent, wingless and hornless, but being only half-manifested she was pretty tiny, about the size of a large car all curled up. Hartley was equally small, though being a wyvern he had wings. Technically, the smallest type of dragon was the basilisk, but they’d only ever had two of those and they’d had to go because they wouldn’t stop trying to zap people with his eyes. They’d consider letting Bivolo come back. One day. Maybe.

The thing that really got to Cisco, though, as he sat around looking at his glorious herd (what did you call a group of dragons, anyway? A pack? A flock? A flight? A parliament? _A murder?_ ) is that they were incomplete.

Well, they weren’t incomplete. They had a representative of every type of dragon out there, including the rarest and most sought-after. But Len had never shifted into his true form, not even _once_. Not even after Cisco had shown him plans to make a nice ice section of the fields, with generated snow any time he liked and a lake of icy water. Nope, the stubborn ice-wurm simply would not budge. 

“Are you sure you won’t consider it?”

“I told you, Cisco, I’m _thinking_ about it,” Len replied, lounging around in his human form as usual. “Don’t get me wrong, Cisco, I like your plans and all – I really want to see more of that cold field generator, actually – but I’m not going to shift on a whim.”

“But I’ve never even _seen_ an ice-wurm in true form,” Cisco wailed. “Everyone _else_ lets me write up their stats, document their environmental preferences and have Caitlin run medical tests.”

“I assure you I’m not sick.”

“For _science_ , you heathen. Please? It’s my birthday.” 

“You’re kidding.”

“No,” Caitlin piped up. “He’s not kidding. He’s been waiting all month to pop the question on you.”

Sara laughed. “Come on, Leonard,” she teased. “Shed the pink and mammalian. Everyone knows lizards have all the fun.”

Mick rolled over a little, grunting as their conversation interrupted his nap. “He don’t gotta do anything he don’t want to,” he said, the deep voice of their largest dragon rumbling in everyone’s bones. Jax remained stubbornly fast asleep at his side. Fire-drakes liked their sleep, and they liked _lots_ of it. 

Sara turned and nudged at Lisa, careful not to hit her with her poisonous spikes. “Come on, Lisa baby,” she cooed. “Make your brother stop being a killjoy.”

Lisa laughed and batted her (second) favorite dragon away, skillfully managing to avoid both spike and poison sac to thud Sara soundly on the side. “I don’t know, babe,” she said. “Len’s got some good reasons for being shy.”

“I’m not _shy_ ,” Len snapped. “I’m an _ice-wurm_. Cisco, have you ever _seen_ an ice-wurm?”

“No, which is exactly why I want to see you!” Cisco exclaimed. “C’mon, if it’s the temperature issue, I told you, we can handle it.”

“You really can’t,” Len replied. “Trust me on this one.”

Cisco sighed. “I mean, I’m not going to make you,” he said glumly. “Or pressure you. Well, pressure you too much – thanks for your help, guys, but it’s really not nice. Could I at least get a description? I could still make you a habitat anyway, even if you only sit there in your human form.”

Len stared at him for a second. “Are you seriously trying to guilt trip me?”

“It’s my _birthday_ , I’m allowed at least three tries at convincing you before threats of bodily harm come into play!”

Len shook his head. “The really sad thing,” he said. “Is that I’m actually a little impressed with your persistence. So, how about this: I’ll transform once today, in honor of your birthday, and you can see me. And then you can come up with the reason why I don’t want a habitat all on your own, huh?”

“Really?” Cisco said eagerly. “You’re not screwing with me, are you? Please don’t be screwing with me.”

An _ice-wurm_! The last reports of ice-wurms were from the _medieval era_ – no one had managed to get one anywhere near a scientific analysis, on account of their extreme rarity and general reticence to interact with humans at all. Man, this report wouldn’t just put Cisco on the academic map, it would fund anything he wanted to do for STAR for the next five years even without Ray’s help. They’d probably make it the subject of a paper. A series of papers. A whole _conference_. 

Okay, maybe that was why Len was so reluctant to show off, but whatever. He’s an ice-wurm, everyone knows it, the secret’s been out since he and Barry had a cold-versus-speed fight out in the middle of Central City, time to get used to it. Cisco has literally sold his nail clippings for more than gold and that’s with Len sticking to human shape.

“Mick, could you give me a ride?” Len asked. Mick grunted his assent, shaking his head a little to indicate how much he did not appreciate his nap being interrupted, but he did bow his large head and letting Len hop on. 

“Wait, I thought you said you were going to show us your true form?” Cisco asked, puzzled. 

“I am,” Len said. “Give me a minute.”

Mick took to the sky and headed east, where the wider open fields were. A few minutes later, there was a burst of cold air so strong that it knocked everyone back on their ass – Cisco had luckily been sitting down in a soft batch of grass, but Barry tumbled backwards and Hartley, who’d been in the air, was flung backwards like a shot, catching himself a minute before he hit the wall. Caitlin just rolled it out with her usual grace, while Sara curled automatically around Lisa to block her from the worst of the wind. 

Jax slept on, rocking back and forth a little. Stein did blink awake with a grumble, though. _Fire drakes_.

“Was that entirely necessary?” Hartley complained.

Cisco sat up, rubbing his back a little bit, and turned to look to see what the issue was. 

And then he stared.

Oh.

_Oh._

Okay, yeah, that explained it. 

That explained a lot.

That much air being displaced all at once…

“Holy _crap_ he’s gigantic,” Sara said. 

Lisa laughed a little, but even she looked stunned. “You know,” she said slowly. “I knew he hadn’t transformed for me since I was a little kid, but somehow I didn’t realize that he’d grown during the duration. He wasn’t this large when I was a kid, and I thought I’d _imagined_ it.”

“He’s like _Godzilla_ ,” Barry marveled.

“You know I can hear all of you,” Len said, lifting his _freaking ginormous_ head and turning it back. If Barry was the size of a small truck and Mardon the size of a small house, then Len was the size of a small _skyscraper_. His scales weren’t white or blue like Cisco had imagined, either, they were varying shades of grey, speckled with brighter one that verged on white, others darkening towards mottled brown. If anything, when Len didn’t move much, it looked like…it looked like…

“You look like a mountain peak,” Cisco realized. “You _look like a mountain_. Holy crap, no wonder no one’s been able to find ice-wurms when they don’t want to be found, you guys _camouflage_.” 

Len settled his large body down, yawning with jaws large enough to swallow Cisco, all the research he’d ever done, and possibly Hartley, too. “There’s not enough water here to make me enough snow,” he told Cisco. His voice wasn’t as deep as Cisco would’ve expected – still more of a tenor than Mick’s baritone, more nasal. A little whistle-like. Not dissimilar from wind shrieking through the tops of mountains, actually.

_So cool_.

“You have so many adaptive traits for cold weather,” Cisco sighed happily. “Oh, man, even compared to the other dragons, they’re all escalating dominant traits, top of the food chain type stuff, but you, you’re _adaptive_. You have defensive coloring, vocal adaption, techniques to blend in…oh, man. That doesn’t even make sense on an evolutionary level, you could probably step on Barry – no offense, Barry –”

Barry scrutinized the nearer of Len’s enormous scaled claws. “None taken,” he says. “Probably true.”

“Ice-wurms are the oldest of the draconic races,” Stein says, his voice still awed. “Most dragons, we evolved alongside the rise of mammals as, essentially, a genetic throw-back to the megafauna of the dinosaur era.”

“Don’t get started on the ‘crocodiles share 97% of their DNA with us’ crap,” Sara warned. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Regardless,” Stein continued with an effort, ignoring her. “That applies to _most_ dragons we’ve found. But tradition has it that ice-wurms pre-dated the rise of mammals, co-existing with the dinosaurs, dominating the planet during the Ice Age and have just never died out or evolved down, remaining a viable offshoot ever since. Your race memory must hold such wonders, such historical secrets…”

Len nudged an already half-asleep Mick – the only dragon who wasn’t comically dwarfed by him, just regular dwarfed – into a more comfortable position and extended a lazy wing over him. “I agreed to transform, professor,” he drawled. “Not to an investigation.”

Lisa pulled up her knees and looked thoughtfully at her brother. “You’re going to have to fess up one day, you know,” she told him. “Now you’ve gotten us curious. And you _know_ what Cisco’s like when he’s curious. You’re just lucky Ray’s not here.”

“Was your mom…” Sara started, then stopped when she realized she’d stuck her tail in her mouth again. Len’s mother had abandoned her son with his father at a young age, still only capable of partial transformations and unable to properly defend himself. It was a touchy subject.

Len shrugged, and it was a sight to see. “We’re not all too partial to the company of our own kind any more,” he drawled. “Not that it matters. Ice-wurm genes are dominant. Every time.”

“What, even when you breed with another dragon?” Mardon asked, curious despite himself. 

“Always,” Len confirmed. “We don’t hybridize easy.”

“You’re also just incredibly picky motherfuckers,” Mick grumbled, curling up under Len’s wing. “Which is why you’re dying out.”

“Probably. Though it would help if certain mammalian species would stop _heating up the planet_ …”

“I’d protest, but you’re totally right about that one,” Cisco said, shrugging. “But seriously, why do you have adaptive traits? For hunting? It can’t be for defending yourself or hiding – I mean, what does something as big as you have to hide from?”

“ _Meteorites_ ,” Len said bitterly. 

They paused to digest that.

“I’m pretty sure meteorites don’t hunt dragons,” Sara finally said. “Or…anything. Being as they are rocks.”

“Shows what you know,” Len sniffed. “Hey, Cisco, wanna see a trick?”

“Uh, _yes_? _Obviously_?” 

“Great. Lisa, wake me up in ten, will you?” With that, he curled up around Mick – leaving a slight opening under his other wing that looked just about right for either Sara or Barry to crawl in should they want to, yawned another terrifying world-devouring yawn, and went to sleep.

Cisco waited a few minutes, wondering what would happen. Nothing seemed to happen, although really, Len’s camouflage was ridiculous, it looked like there was a brand new hill with a few craggy caves there, not a dragon. 

Lisa whispered something to Sara. 

“No _way_ ,” Sara hissed back, then rolled over and skipped over to where Len was asleep, poking at his side with her nose. “Holy _crap_.”

“What? What is it?” 

“Come touch him!”

Cisco went over and prodded at him. Len’s scales had all slicked back, going virtually seamless in his hide. It didn’t feel like scales. It felt like _rock_. 

No, it _was_ rock, he could break some of it off in his hand, crumbling into grit as he rubbed it between his fingers. Holy crap, an entire crust of rock had basically formed over Len’s body. He was _literally a hill_. 

“This is so cool, this is so cool, this is _so cool_ ,” Cisco chanted. “Oh, man, Lisa, when he wakes up, you’re gonna have to get him to tell us _everything_ about how this even works. Does he exude it? Absorb it? He didn’t roll around in it or anything, so it’s gotta be biological, but how do you even…?”

“Whoa, there, cowboy,” Lisa said, laughing a little. “You have plenty of time to come up with questions, you know.”

“He’s only going to sleep ten minutes!” Cisco protested.

Lisa gave him a pitying look. “Cisco,” she said. “Ten _days_ , not ten minutes. Ice-wurms hibernate. Or, um, aestivate, I guess, that’d be more accurate. Except everything is too hot for them, so they just do it at random.”

“Wait, is that how he managed to be up at all hours of the night when we were working on the cold gun?” Cisco asked, betrayed. “He totally didn’t tell me that! I nearly killed myself trying to keep up with him!”

“But he found it really funny,” Lisa said apologetically. “And he really wanted that cold gun. If it makes you feel better, he only put uppers in your coffee twice.”

“He did _what?!_ ”

“Harmless ones!”


End file.
